(Business in Cameroon) - The Ministry of Public Works has just awarded to the Chantier Naval et Industriel du Cameroun (CNIC, Industrial Shipyard of Cameroon), a contract worth close to FCfa one billion, for the rehabilitation of four ferryboats used to cross some rivers in the Central and Eastern regions of the country.

According to our sources, this contract is actually the first phase of a vast rehabilitation and maintenance programme for 22 ferryboats managed by the State in Cameroon, whose implementation should be carried out by CNIC. A real opportunity for this public company which has been facing great financial difficulties for some years.

Indeed, a formerly prosperous company, whose turnover was still peaking at FCfa 40 billion 10 years ago, against barely FCfa 12 billion in 2014; CNIC has become a fertile ground for tensions between the top management and the employees, who sometimes have to wait several months to receive their salaries.

Even the South Korean expertise requested by the Cameroonian State between September 2010 and March 2013, to put this public company back on track, was not able to help this naval maintenance operator restore its image.

BRM